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Let Children Get Bored Again

nytimes.com

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Re: Let Children Get Bored Again

#141

Post by JauntyHatAngle »

usaphp wrote: post #138
sl1ck731 wrote: post #93

When my family went through hard times in High School our internet was cut. Basically every interest I had was pulled out from under me (gaming). I ended up going to the local library during this time after months of crushing boredom and reading a lot of books like the CompTIA Linux, CEH, random programming books. I always wonder what I would be like if I didn't go through this phase at such a crucial time. It refocu…

> I ended up going to the local library during this time after months of crushing boredom and reading a lot of books like the CompTIA Linux, CEH, random programming books It's only happened because you were that type of person, I know a lot more high school students who went robbing cars and drinking because of their boredom, not going to libraries to read programming books.

If young people are robbing cars and underage drinking when they are bored, I would think the problem there is more about peer-pressure, upbringing and lack of purpose/belonging rather than boredom.

If someone is only stopped from making poor decisions due to escapism, there is an underlying issue that needs to be fixed with something deeper than not letting them get bored.

Re: Let Children Get Bored Again

#142

Post by flukus »

hopler wrote: post #112
birksherty wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am a millennial myself. We watched tv, had video games. But also we played lot more in playgrounds for fun, talk, meet up, discuss in real space and had real laughs. Now I have seen kids in my neighborhood who don't know each other. In the free time they watch tv alone and uses social media most of the time. Only time they go out is for school, occasional shopping and other chores. I have not seen them with friends…

When I was a kid (in the Jurassic era) kids did stupid stunts to be popular and overreacted to everything too.

Kids (and adults to a lesser extent) always have an always will do stupid stunts to try and standout or increase their dignitas. The social circle this happened in used to be a lot smaller though, just friends, family or maybe the school. Now they're trying to do this in the world stage where standing out is a lot harder.

Re: Let Children Get Bored Again

#143

Post by nine_k »

lytedev wrote: post #53
nitrogen wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Books were an escape vehicle before TV, movies, and games.

Sure, but doesn't it work pretty differently? With books, you're just given words and your brain has to fill in the gaps and actually do some work. With video games and movies, your brain is directly stimulated; shown what to see and hear.

Crucially, books are non-interactive, they don't give you feedback.

Books are in the same class as movies and TV. Games are a different class.

Re: Let Children Get Bored Again

#144

Post by usaphp »

JauntyHatAngle wrote: post #141
usaphp wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I ended up going to the local library during this time after months of crushing boredom and reading a lot of books like the CompTIA Linux, CEH, random programming books It's only happened because you were that type of person, I know a lot more high school students who went robbing cars and drinking because of their boredom, not going to libraries to read programming books.

If young people are robbing cars and underage drinking when they are bored, I would think the problem there is more about peer-pressure, upbringing and lack of purpose/belonging rather than boredom. If someone is only stopped from making poor decisions due to escapism, there is an underlying issue that needs to be fixed with something deeper than not letting them get bored.

You can say the same about kids who end up as “bad examples” of media/tv influence

Re: Let Children Get Bored Again

#145

Post by sl1ck731 »

usaphp wrote: post #138
sl1ck731 wrote: post #93

When my family went through hard times in High School our internet was cut. Basically every interest I had was pulled out from under me (gaming). I ended up going to the local library during this time after months of crushing boredom and reading a lot of books like the CompTIA Linux, CEH, random programming books. I always wonder what I would be like if I didn't go through this phase at such a crucial time. It refocu…

> I ended up going to the local library during this time after months of crushing boredom and reading a lot of books like the CompTIA Linux, CEH, random programming books It's only happened because you were that type of person, I know a lot more high school students who went robbing cars and drinking because of their boredom, not going to libraries to read programming books.

I agree with that as well. It was the combination of me not being the type do do all of that plus being bored enough to go to the library.

I know a lot of my peers in college just couldn't hack it because they were engrossed in gaming. I might not have ended up jacking cars but I doubt I would have made it through my first 2 years of engineering if I hadn't become more interested in it than online gaming.

There is a lot of factors and every case is unique but I can't believe that never feeling that kind of boredom is healthy, if not only to find out who you really are. Maybe it would be wise to have a month of "decompression" in the wilderness or otherwise disconnected the first year before college if you are already on track to at least go to one.

Re: Let Children Get Bored Again

#146

Post by MichaelMoser123 »

This is a very valuable article. I have the following problem with it:

I think this age has its own tragedy: On the one end one is expected to process information that comes in in at a frantic pace; on the other hand one is required to do so with the depth and thoroughness that comes from a much slower age, when the skills were acquired while processing two dimensional texts/books.

These are two modes stand in contradiction to each other.

Now this contradiction hits hardest on kids and parents: you have to prepare and train your kids for both of these modes so that they stay competitive (that is able to fulfill the requirements and challenges they will later face at work).

Lots of problems...

Re: Let Children Get Bored Again

#147

Post by marcell »

mmmmpancakes wrote: post #92
marcell wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You’re trying to analyze raising children scientifically, and I think that’s impossible. You can never measure bored teens against non-bored teens in any meaningful way. No parent will want to, or be able to participate in a scientific study to tests the effects of boredom on their teens. What would that even look like? Randomize parents in two groups, and have them change their parenting in prescribed ways? No paren…

“You’re trying to analyze raising children scientifically, and I think that’s impossible.” You lost me already. You are flippantly dismissing everyone in developmental psychology and related fields with no justification.

I don't think I was being flippant. That's the thesis of my comment, and the rest of it is supporting points.

Re: Let Children Get Bored Again

#149

Post by dvdkon »

joe_the_user wrote: post #44
cortesoft wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, it is also interesting how they categorize the activities... apparently reading a book doesn’t count as “avoiding boredom”, but playing a video game does... why? Both are using something to entertain yourself, and it seems pretty arbitrary to distinguish between them. In fact, I am pretty sure there has been times on our history where reading fiction was treated the same way we treat watching YouTube videos tod…

Yeah, it is also interesting how they categorize the activities... apparently reading a book doesn’t count as “avoiding boredom”, but playing a video game does... why? - Why? Because a video game move forward at it's speed, setting, since it keeps things going regardless, it's own agenda. A book only moves forward at the speed of a child's own thinking. There's always an opportunity to stop and think when reading a b…

As a young kid I didn't play any action games (especially first-person shooters) at first, because I didn't have the skill to play them properly, and instead I played games from other genres, like point-and-click adventures. I think your concern is unfounded.

Re: Let Children Get Bored Again

#150

Post by dbancajas »

marktangotango wrote: post #117
theshrike79 wrote: post #39

The most important mission in a dad's life is make sure his kids are bored out of their minds often enough and need to come up with something to do on their own.

Our kids get limited screen time, like an hour a day on weekends and 20 min during weekdays. A lot of the rest of the time it’s “play with your sibling” although we do board games sometimes. I’ve really been impressed how my kids use their screen time. My son builds projects inspired by what he sees and our daughter sings and pretend plays. They come up with games on their own. It’s really been awesome to see how the…

How old are your kids? We've been struggling with ours wrt to screen time.
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